The Gun
by closetfan
Summary: This is a sequel to “The Car”. See what happens when Joey gets hold of a gun. COMPLETE
1. Default Chapter

Authors Note: This is a sequel to The Car. You do not need to have read it in order to follow this story, but it fills out the characters better.

Disclaimer. I do not own Spider-ma/Peter Parker. However I do own, Vinny, Joey, and Dr. Jackson, and the storyline.

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"Hey, Vinny!"

The rookie cop turned around and looked up. "Hey, Spidey! How's it hanging?"

Spider-man using his feet to stick to the wall and his knees as leverage, lifted his hands off the wall and tilted his head. The smirk almost visible behind the mask.

Rubbing his neck, Officer Vinny called up, "Do you think you can come down, so I don't get a permanent kink in my neck?"

Gracefully, the red and blue clad hero somersaulted down. He thrust his hand forward and grasped the police officer's hand, giving it a hearty shake. Vinny pulled him into a quick bear hug with a slap on the back. "Hey Spidey, long time no see."

Standing back and studying the cop in uniform, Spider-man asked, "So, how's the job working out?"

"Love it. You know ever since you saved my bacon back at the warehouse, I knew that this is what I should be doing with the rest of my life. When I got out of the academy, I decided I didn't want to be one of those stone-faced cops that people were afraid of approaching. I wanted kids to be able to run up to me at anytime knowing that I'm their friend and that I'm here to help."

And as if on cue, two kids road by on bikes, "Hey Officer Vinny! Whoa, you know Spider-man!" They slammed on their brakes and coasted over to talk to their human hero and super hero. They ended up just staring at Spider-man, with mouths agape.

"Timmy, Carmine, I want to introduce you to my friend Spider-man." Vinny stated.

Neither kid moved.

"Hi guys," Spidey said waving a red gloved hand.

They sat on their bikes staring.

Spider-man shot webbing into the air, allowing it to float down on top of their heads, his personal silly-string. That seemed to have broken their trance. "Oh cool," they said in unison as they played with the semi-sticky substance.

While they played with it, Vinny pulled Spider-man aside before the crowd of gawkers grew. "I wanted to let you know, I met someone."

"Yeah? Is she nice?"

"Real nice. And I won't have met her if you hadn't straightened me out. So nice in fact, I'm gonna pop the question but…" he paused, "I want you to come to the wedding."

Seeing a crowd already gravitating towards them, Spidey said, "Vinny, I am honored. Really. But I don't want to cause a commotion at your wedding. And as you can see," he nodded towards the onlookers, "I draw a crowd. But I'll tell you what. I have a buddy, a photographer, he'll do your wedding for nothing. Then I get to see the pix he took. His name is Peter Parker."

"The Bugle photographer? He'd do that for us?"

"You bet. I know he would love to. Say, how's Joey?"

"Doing good. He studies hard, hangs with good kids. Stays outa trouble mostly. He'll be sorry he missed you."

"If he's around, I can pay him a visit."

Vinny smiled, "He'd like that. He's always talking about you. How great you are." Then sheepishly added, "But he doesn't talk much how he got to meet you. I think he doesn't want to embarrass me, now that I straighten out my act and became a cop. Last I saw him today, he was hanging close to home."

Seeing the crowd growing, Spider-man said, "I'd better be going before a riot starts. I'll do a fly-by to see if Joey's around."

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Sitting in the middle of the apartment roof, Joey and Tony had secreted up there out of sight of parents and nosey neighbors.

"Whatcha got?" Tony asked.

"It's my brother's gun."

"Your brother let you have the gun?" Tony exclaimed wide eyed.

"No way, he'd kill me if he knew I had this. I'm gonna put it back, I just wanted to show it to you." Joey caressed the weapon.

"I thought he's on duty, how'd you get it?"

"It's his off-duty piece. He hardly ever brings it out. I asked him if he would take me shooting one day. He told me he wanted me a little older. Don't you think I'm old enough to learn how to shoot?" the 10 yr old asked his buddy.

"Sure. Why not."

Subconsciously fingering and playing with the weapon, Joey asked, "Hey, did I ever tell you howcum Vinny became a cop?"

"Uh, uh."

"He was a real asshole a couple years ago. Picked on me all the time. I used to hide in an abandoned car. One day, Spider-man showed up at the car and started talkin' to me. Like I was a real somebody. He sat down and asked me questions. I was tryin' not to let him know what was wrong, but he was so, like, ordinary about it that before I knew what happened, I told him everything. Next thing…….he scares the pants off Vinny when he comes after me again."

"Vinny became a cop because Spider-man went after him?" Tony asked.

"Nah, Spider-man saved his life. He got wrapped up with the wrong gang, went to rob a warehouse. I knew it was bad. Real bad and I found, um, looked for Spider-man to let him know. Hey. My brother was an A-1 jerk, but he was still my brother. I didn't want him dead and all. Anyway, the warehouse thing was a setup and it was blown to smithereens. Spider-man got Vinny outa there in the nick of time. Things started to get better after that. Pop started listening to Vinny, and I dunno, things just got better."

"Cool. Did you ever see Spider-man again?"

"Yeah, lots of times. He stops by sometimes to say hi. He showed up at Vinny's graduation from cop school, but only me and Vinny knew, he was hiding in the back. But I haven't seen him lately."

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"Gee, I haven't seen Joey in a while. I should keep in touch with him better," Spider-man thought as he swung through the soon-to-be-hot day. Lightly touching down on the roof of a tall building he peered over, checking into some of the places that he had seen Joey hang out. Since the boy wasn't at the first two stops, he continued on. He swung over another block and checked the rooftops of the lower buildings from his high vantage point. A smile, although hidden, came to his face. He saw two boys sitting in the middle of the roof, doing whatever young boys do. He couldn't tell from that distance if it was Joey or not, but he thought he'd head closer to check them out.

His spider-sense screamed and the smile disappeared like tigers in a magician's cage. Those boys had a gun. He couldn't tell if it was loaded but the way they were handling it, they did not know guns. Besides, he felt that no one that age should have a gun. Rocketing to action, he started a free fall dive to get to the roof as fast as possible, webbing at the last second to prevent him crashing. Halfway to his destination he recognized his young friend, and screamed out his name.

"JOEY!"

Shocked at the sudden outburst from nowhere, the boy fumbled the gun.

It fell and went off.


	2. chapter two

Joey scrambled on hands and knees to the fallen victim. Placing his hands on the chest he rocked the person trying to wake him up.

"Spider-man, Spider-man, are you ok? Wake up, Spider-man!"

He shook the hero harder, screaming, "Spider-man, I didn't mean too. Please get up!"

He sat back and looked at the blood on his hands.

When Tony saw that, he yelled, "I'm outa here!"

"No wait! You gotta help me, Tony."

"Uh,uh……brother or no, the cops are gonna arrest you. You killed a guy. You killed Spider-man. I don't want no part of that."

Joey looked at the fallen hero, the blood and his departing friend. Panic overflowed within him and he got up and ran as well. He ran down the stairs. He ran down the block. He ran blindly until he ended up in the alley where the old car once sat. The junk car that he was hiding inside the day he met the super-hero. It was now an empty lot, that heap long ago hauled away. He leaned against the brick wall and slid down into a sitting position. Still holding his sticky hands in front of him, he cried. He felt more helpless now than even back in the days when he thought Vinny was literally going to kill him.

When his eyes were swollen and cried out, he finally realized that he needed to remove the dried blood from his hands. Deeper into the alley was a puddle of heaven-knows what kind of liquid, but he'd use anything to remove the blood. He stuck his hands into the black fluid and used the dirt at the bottom of the puddle to scrub his hands. He squished the dirt, sand and glass until his hands were raw.

Satisfied that the visible signs of blood were gone, he looked around to find real water. He knew a couple of blocks away was a park with a drinking fountain. That would have to do. Reaching the fountain out of breath from running, he looked around and waited until he was not being watched before proceeding to rinse off the muck. He stopped several times when he thought people were paying attention to him.

Hands now stuffed into his pockets, he wandered aimlessly around. Time evaporated. Streets disappeared. The world fogged in around him. His thoughts were mired in the sludge of worry. What's going to happen now? He contemplated where he might end up if they find and arrest him. He'd be lucky if he just got 'juvy', but supposed they thought he was old enough to be tried as an adult? He could get the chair. Then he started to agonize about the city without its super-hero, all those people that would have been saved if Spider-man were still alive. And what about his family. He knows Spidey has family. Somewhere. And somewhere they will be sitting waiting for him never to return.

He found himself back at the alley once more. He turned to face the building that he had seen Spider-man emerge from so many times. The window was still open awaiting the return of the stealthy red and blue clad figure. Joey wanted to go up to the apartment where he had met his idol face to face. But he knew, deep in his heart, he knew that man was dead. Looking at the window, he wondered how long it would remain open. How long would it take for someone to realize that the occupant was gone? Forever.

He checked out the elongating shadows and reluctantly headed home. There was probably a mob scene there by now. Cops going over the murder scene. Reporters sticking microphones in everyone's face asking what happened, how'd it happen and did anyone see it. He hoped that the coroner had taken him away in the body bag already. He wasn't sure he could handle seeing that.

Back at his apartment building, everything was quiet. There was no commotion. It could already be all over and they are waiting for him upstairs. Maybe they won't know who did it. Maybe this was just a bad dream. Maybe he will wake up, all sweaty, his bed a jumbled mess, and it was all just a nightmare. Refusing to look up at the roof, he forced his feet to move, to walk inside and up the stairs to his apartment. When he entered, everything was quiet. There was no one waiting to arrest him, no one there to ask him questions. He simply found that dinner was just about ready.

"Hey, Joey, just in time. Go call your brother, will ya. Dinner's ready," his father said.

Half heartily, Joey yelled, "VINNY! DINNER!"

"Joey! I could have done that myself. I meant for you to go get him."

"Hey Joey." Vinny greeted, still in his uniform. Then turning to his step-father, "Hey, Pop, that smells good. I'm starved. What's for dinner?"

"You know I only know how to cook spaghetti. And I'm using your mother's sauce. She had some in the freezer."

"So,where is she tonight?"

"Oh she's got some charity thing going on. So you guys are stuck with the old man's cooking."

"Help me set the table, Shortstop," Vinny called to his sibling.

He looked at the solemn boy. Something was not right. He was usually a lot more talkative. And he had expected even more chatter tonight if Spider-man visited him like he said he would do. Maybe Spidey didn't find him after all.

The dinner table was quieter than normal and both men noticed how glum the youngster was.

"Pass the meatballs, Sport," Vinny called, then added, "Did you see Spider-man today?"

Joey's eyes widened, he fought hard to contain his fear, "No, why?"

"Well, I ran into him this morning. He said he was going to pay you a visit. I guess he didn't find you."

"Guess not."

_Oh God, now they can connect me with being the last person Spider-man went to see. They'll hang me but good! _Joey's mind was running away with him.

After more silence Vinny came right out and asked, "Somethin' wrong, kid?"

"Uh, no. Nuthin'"

"Well howcum, you're so quiet?"

"Um, I, um….saw a dead animal today. I didn't like it."

"What was it?"

"I dunno, it was all mangled up. Must've got run over by a million cars." Joey said as he continued to play with his dinner, then asked, "Can I go now?"

"You're not hungry? I slaved all afternoon over a hot stove," his father joked.

The boy just shook his head and left.

Joey sat on his bed, studying his hands. He caught sight of a bit of dried blood along the side his thumb nail and began to scrape it away. Then he noticed most of his nails were still dirty around the edges. He ran into the bathroom and using a fresh bar of soap and the only brush he could find, which was the hard bristled one for the tub. He scrubbed, and scrubbed and scrubbed. With half of the bar now used up, he finally stopped and rinsed his bright red hands. The blood was gone. He slipped back into his bedroom, closing the door.

He stared at his now raw hands. They still felt dirty and he rubbed them. They were too sore to wash anymore, but he could still feel the stickiness. It was driving him nuts. He went into his closet rummaging around. When he found the gloves he was looking for, he put them on. Although it was too hot to wear winter gloves now, it took his mind off the blood. The blood that was on his hands. Spider-man's blood.

He sat on his bed, picking at the threads covering his hands. His mind was blank at the moment. It wasn't functioning anymore. He couldn't think of what to do or who he could go to for help. He definitely couldn't go to his brother. He would have to arrest him. He's a cop and that's what cops do.

He was startled back to reality when there was a knock on his door.

"Can I come in?" Vinny called.

"Yeah."

Joey noticed that Vinny had changed into his civvies since dinner. The young man walked over and sat on the bed next to his brother. "Hmmmm, gloves in the middle of summer. What's wrong?"

"Nuthin'"

"I know something's wrong. Now give. It's not because Spider-man never found you, was it?"

He shook his head.

"What's with the gloves?"

Joey sat there trying to think of an excuse. "It keeps me from biting my nails."

"I didn't know you had a nail biting problem."

"See, it works."

They sat in silence for a while but Joey didn't budge. Vinny sat a while longer….hoping the silence would get uncomfortable enough for the boy to give in. But after several minutes, the older brother gave up and left, "You know you can talk to me anytime," he called as he walked out the door.

Joey knew that Vinny knew there was a problem. But, it wasn't going beyond that. Vinny could wonder all he wanted, ask all he wanted, but he'll never know find out.

About an hour later, Joey still having not moved, heard Vinny call out to his father, "Pop, have you seen my gun?" Joey's heart started pounding. The gun! Where'd he leave the gun! Did he leave it on the roof with the body? Oh no! When they find the gun, they'll trace it back to Vinny. And either he or his brother would get blamed for the murder. A shiver ran up Joey's spine. Oh no, it was too late now. The evidence was already piling up against him.

When Vinny walked into his room and asked, "Squirt, have you seen my gun?" Joey just crawled back on his bed, pushing up against the corner wall, wide-eyed.

There was no doubt left in Vinny's mind that something was terribly wrong. "It's the gun Joey, isn't it? Something happened with the gun. What? Did you take it?"

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It was an accident! He scared me and I dropped it." The floodgates had opened.

"You had my gun? Where? What happened? Tell me Joey." Vince said with forced calm.

"I just wanted to show Tony. That's all. It went off on its own. By accident! It was just an accident."

This was just the kind of thing Vinny had feared and thought he had hidden the gun well.

"Did someone get hurt? Did Tony get hurt? Where is he?" Vinny asked, getting worried.

Joey shook his head.

"What happened, Joey? You have to tell me!"

A whisper, more of a whimper, emanated from of Joeys' mouth, "I killed Spider-man."

Vinny stood there, staring at his white-faced terrified brother. "What?"

"I killed Spider-man."

As he held his fear and anger at bay, he knelt down on one knee next to the bed. "Joey, where is he? Where did you shoot Spider-man?"

Joey just pointed up to the ceiling.

"On the roof?"

Joey nodded.

"C'mon, show me."

Joey vehemently shook his head.

Vinny firmly but gently grasped Joey by the arms, "You have to show me, Joey. Let's go."

"I can't," he murmured.

Getting rougher than he wanted Vinny grabbed Joey by the arm yanking him off the bed, "C'mon, we're going up to the roof."

Joey unwillingly led the way, out of the apartment and up the several flights. With each step, his feet got heavier and heavier. But Vinny was right behind him, pushing him up. The access door creaked when it was opened and Joey hesitated going out. Turning away, he just pointed in the direction where the murder took place. But when Vinny asked, "Where?" Joey had to look.

The body was gone.


	3. chapter three

Vinny grabbed Joey by the shoulder to stop him from running over to where he had left Spider-man. "Go get my flashlight. You know the big halogen one."

Joey did a quick about face and ran downstairs.

He was back in minutes and handed his brother the large light. "Stay here," he was commanded.

Vinny walked slowly in the direction Joey pointed, his flashlight aimed at the ground. He was trying not to disturb anything that could be conceived as evidence. "How far was he?"

"You're about half-way there."

After a few more feet, Joey called out, "Stop. Somewhere around there."

Vinny started a search pattern with the light, trying to catch every square inch of rooftop. Panning slowly back and forth, he would step forward a little at a time.

Joey was watching his brother carefully going over the whole area. Suddenly he saw him drop down on one knee, "Did you find something?"

Vinny yelled "Stay put!" when he saw his brother starting to come over. He didn't want him to see the pool of blood that he'd just found. Standing up, he started to follow a trail of the red droplets. It was a straight line to the edge of the building. He caught more of the crimson stain on the ledge. Peering over, he shone the light down into the alley below. He wouldn't be able to detect blood at that distance but he could certainly spot a red and blue body if there was one. Vinny headed back to Joey, "I think he's still alive, kid, I found spots of blood that go off the edge, but there's no body down there. Now, where did you leave my gun?

"It was right there," and he pointed several feet away from where Vinny found the pool of blood.

"Shit. My gun's missing," Vinny growled. "I'll talk to you about that later. Right now, let's get down to the alley and see if we can find anything."

At first the older brother headed towards the stairwell, but then said, "Let's use the fire escape, less chance of running into somebody."

At the bottom, Vinny helped his younger brother off the last rung of the ladder. "Stay here. I want to see if I can find anything first."

Starting again with the side to side search pattern, Vinny was able to cover most of the alleyway quickly due to its small size. He glanced over at his brother. He couldn't even begin to imagine how he must feel, shooting his idol. It was bad enough that the boy took a gun that he wasn't supposed to. He would have gotten into plenty of trouble just for that alone. Then add to that the gun was now missing, and he was in even bigger trouble. Vinny was going to have to report that to his captain. But, shooting the very person who meant so much to Joey, he just shook his head. The kid will never get over that. When this whole mess was over, he was going to have to have a long talk with him, maybe several.

"C'mon, Squirt. There's nothing we can do now. I have to go back and think of a game plan. I really need to report this. But I want to wait at least long enough to know for sure if Spider-man is ..." He held back finishing the sentence for his brother's sake.

Joey pleaded with his brother, "Can't we look at little bit more? Please?"

"I don't know where to even start, kid. That's why I want to go back inside, so that I can sit down and map out a plan. I have to do this just right or I could lose my job."

Joey looked like he wanted to say something more, but held it in.

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On the roof of a building just a block from the shooting, a prone, red and blue clad figure shivered in the night.

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Deep in the city, sunlight reached down the valley of the buildings a lot later than sunrise. Joey was up before it was light. He hadn't slept a wink and was anxious to hear what Vinny had planned. Ever since Spider-man changed their lives a few years back, his older brother became one of the best brothers any kid could have. He was proud of him and now believed he could do anything.

He had been fidgeting with a dilemma all night and hoped he wasn't going to have to face it. He won't have to, not if Vinny came up with a plan. Walking into the kitchen, he found his brother, asleep at the table. He gently shook him, "Vin, wake up. Wake up, Vinny."

Groggy-eyed, the young man looked at his kid brother, "Gee, I must have fallen asleep here last night. Would you mind making me a cup of coffee, Joey?" He asked rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, did you come up with anything?"

He shook his head. "Joey, I don't know where to begin to look for Spider-man. I was thinking of asking a couple of my buddies to keep an eye open for him. He usually shows up when cops are called in. If anybody sees him, then we know he's ok."

Whispering so as not to wake his parents, Joey cried softly, "You know he's not ok, Vin. You saw the blood."

"So you don't want me to ask for help?"

"I just don't think it will do any good. Besides, what're going to tell them the reason you want to see Spider-man?"

"I would just tell them that I wanted to surprise you. They all know you're buddies with him."

Joey looked down, "Some buddy. I shot him. And probably killed him. Do you have any other ideas?"

"Sorry kid. Like I said, I haven't a clue where to even begin."

Joey decided that he needed to break the solemn promise because it meant saving a life. Still looking down, almost inaudibly, he murmured, "I know where he lives."

"Huh? Say that again."

"I said, 'I know where he lives.'"

"Why didn't you say something last night!" Vinny was now wide awake.

"Because I made a promise to him that I would never tell a soul."

Vinny got up and held his brother close. "Joey, I know you take that promise very seriously. But I think he will understand why you are breaking it." Separating, he looked down at a face that had aged 10 years since last night, "Get dressed. We're going there right now. I'm putting on my uniform so that I look more official, but I called in today. I took the whole day off, just to look for Spidey."

Joey trudged back into his bedroom.

Vinny sat back down and ran his fingers through his hair. If any of this gets out, his job was history. He's breaking every friggin rule in the book. And even though he hadn't mentioned anymore of it to Joey, he was worried about his gun. What if it was used in a crime?

Knowing Joey would be ready soon, Vinny left to get dressed.

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The brother's walked up the flight of stairs quietly so as not to disturb any neighbors. Vinny thought_, 'Shit, I'm going to have to knock pretty loud to make sure who's ever inside hears, so to give them a chance to answer the door. I don't want to get caught breaking and entering into someone else's place.' _

"Ready?"

Joey nodded and he knocked on the door, "It's me, Joey."

No answer.

Joey didn't want to call out Peter's name because he hadn't disclosed that yet to his brother, waiting until the very last minute, just in case he didn't have to. And he couldn't very well yell 'Spider-man'.

Knocking a little harder, "It's me, Joey. Open up."

Looking up at his uniformed brother, "I guess you have to try."

Trying to look like he's on official business, Vinny knocked louder, "Police. Open up sir."

"One more try then I'll break in. You know what this means, Joey? You sure this is the right place? If anyone finds out, I'm no longer a cop. I'll lose my job for sure." He didn't want to mention a possible jail sentence.

"It was his place a couple of years ago."

"A couple of years ago! He could have moved a dozen times over by now!" Vinny hissed, now hesitating to go ahead with his plans.

"But his life's at stake. And he risked his to save yours. Right?"

"Yeah," he said calming down. "I guess that's why I'm doing it, kid."

Just as he raised his fist to try again, the door across the hall opened up. A man with a face like a rodent popped his head out, "When you see that guy, tell him he owes me rent. And if he doesn't pay up, you can haul his ass out of here." Then just a quickly, he popped his head back inside and closed the door.

The brother's looked at each other, their faces mirrored the same reaction; half fear, half humor.

Vinny turned back to the door again, banging on it. "Open up, this is the police." He stood still, listening. Then he looked around at the other doors. He didn't hear anything from any other apartment, and he noticed they did not have peepholes to look through. "Ok, Joey, without looking like a lookout keep an eye open. I'm going in."

The older brother took out a set of lock-picks and deftly picked the flimsy catch. He slowly opened the door, and looked around the hall one last time before entering. He quickly closed the door behind them.

"This is where Spider-man lives?" Vinny asked, shocked at the meager, tiny apartment.

The boy nodded.

"I sat over there and talked to him," Joey said as he pointed to the chair. He still didn't tell his brother yet that when he met 'The Man' face to face, it was without his mask.

"When did you do that? How did you find… never mind, let's find him first. But I want to know all about this later."

Looking around the sparse room, checking the trash can, the sink and anywhere bloody evidence could be found, the cop stated, "It doesn't look like he's been here since, uh… Well he hasn't been here."

Joey was staring at a strip of pictures stuck in the mirror frame. "I wonder if this is his girlfriend."

Vinny came over, "I know her. Well, I've seen her. She's an actress. Pretty, huh? I wonder if she knows who's behind the mask." He took out his notepad and jotted a reminder to look up the woman's name and go ask her some questions. Then as he admired her picture a moment longer, his eyes drifted down to a business card with the name of a clinic and doctor on it.

"I wonder if Spider-man has someone who is his private doctor. Would make life a lot easier when he got banged up," he said as he wrote down Dr. Jackson's information.

Joey looked to his older brother, "Do you think he went to the hospital? Not as Spider-man but as Pe….uh his other self?"

"Huh?" Vince missed the statement as he was writing in his notebook.

"I said, 'Do you think Spider-man went to the hospital as his other self?'"

"That'll be easy enough to check. All gunshot wounds need to be reported."

Vinny glanced around for one last look when he spotted a student ID. Picking it up, he whispered to himself, "Peter Parker."

Joey looked at him, eyes round, "You're not supposed to find out!" then clamped his jaw shut.

Looking over at his brother, Vinny said, "You knew? Is there any other secret you'd like to tell me to help in the investigation! When this is over, we're going to have a heart to heart talk. With your secret life, for all I know, you're hiding Jimmy Hoffa under your bed."

Joey shook his head.

Talking more to himself now, "Well, that explains why he always gets pictures of Spider-man. They are one in the same." Then looking around at the poor accommodations, he thought, '_and he was going to do my wedding photography for free!'_

Listen, I think we've been here long enough. I've got some leads here I can follow up on. We should go now."

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Spider-man sat huddled on the ground, in the darkest corner of an alley, hidden by a garbage dumpster. Clutching his side, breathing hard, he thought, '_Good one Spidey. You did it again. You know it's your fault you got shot again. What were you thinking scaring the boy like that? You're just lucky you got hit instead of one of the kids.'_

Banging the back of his head against the brick wall, he cried, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He stopped and looked skyward, "Please, don't let me die like this. It isn't fair to the kid. He shouldn't have to live with something like this for the rest of his life. If it's my time, just let me survive for now and once Joey knows he didn't kill me, then take me."

Judging by the sun, he figured it was late afternoon. '_I'm not making very much headway. I've gone all of a block and a half since yesterday. I'll be either completely healed or dead by the time I reach Doc. Jackson's_.' He banged his head a few more times out of frustration.

'_Maybe I should just go to my place and call the doc from there. I'm sure I can make it at least that far._'

Picking up the gun he webbed just before he left the roof, he studied it for a moment, turning it over in his hands. '_I wonder where Joey got this, if it's Vinny's? God, I hate these things._' Putting it down, he looked at his surroundings, '_I need to find Doc __Jackson__. Man, he's gonna kill me this time. He's gonna be so pissed that I got shot from my own stupidity._'

Although his mind was telling him to move, the body stayed. He closed his eyes. He just wanted to do it for a moment. That was all. Just rest for a minute.

He was snapped awake by sounds coming from the entrance of the alley. He couldn't tell if they were drunks, rowdy kids or thugs, but whoever it was, he couldn't be seen by them. Not in this condition. He removed the glove from his right hand, and picked up the gun. With only his hand bending around the corner of the dumpster, he deliberately cocked the weapon making sure the click was loud. Then he yelled, "Get lost!"

The voices silenced, and after a moment, he heard the sound of running feet departing. Uncocking the gun, he placed it on his lap, then laid his head back against the brick wall. Sweat made the costume uncomfortably sticky. '_That was close._'

The last thought he had before falling back into the murky waters of unconsciousness was '_I really need to get out of here_.'

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After spending the day chasing down the leads, Vinny sat in Joey's room, phone in hand. He didn't want to be where his parents could hear the conversation, but wanted his brother by his side. He dialed the number taken from the business card.

On the second ring, a female voice answered, "Glenview Avenue Clinic, can I help you?"

"Yes, is there a Doctor Jackson there?"

"Yes there is but he is busy with a patient right now. Something I can help you with, perhaps?"

"What kind of doctor is he?"

"A General Practitioner."

When Vinny heard that, he gave Joey the thumbs up. "This is Officer Tarentetto, 33rd precinct. I need to speak to the doctor. Can he be disturbed?"

"Please hold."

Vinny waited several minutes, before hearing a deep male voice on the line, "Hello?"

"Is this Doctor Jackson?"

"Yes, and you are Officer..?"

"Officer Tarentetto."

"What can I do for you that couldn't wait, Officer?"

Vinny decided to go with the photographer's name, hoping to be able to read his reaction better. "Do you know a Peter Parker?"

There was a pause at the other end, "There is a doctor patient confidentiality that prevents me from answering that."

"I didn't ask if he was a patient, just if you knew him." But that alone told him that Parker was a patient of the doctor, but it didn't tell him if the doctor knew he was Spider-man.

"I still don't have to give you any information."

Vinny took a gamble and said, "He's missing and presumed seriously hurt."

There was silence at the other end. Then hesitantly, "Missing? How? And how do you know he's hurt?"

"There was blood at his last known location."

"Listen Officer, I'm afraid I can't help you. I have to go." Vinny listened to the empty dial tone for a moment.

"Well?" Joey said excitedly.

"I don't know. He hung up suddenly. He didn't lead on that he knew Spider-man. But something's not right. Anyway, he definitely didn't know that Peter was hurt or missing. So I guess that rules the clinic out. Oh and by the way, I tried to call that actress and got no answer. I checked with my partner and there's no reported gunshot wounds at St. Barnabas, the closest hospital."

Vinny looked out the window into the night. It was late evening. "Why don't we call it a day, and get a fresh start tomorrow morning?"

"Vinny! This is the second night he's out there somewhere hurt. Hey, we know where he lives and we know where the doctor lives. Why don't we start walking from here in that direction? We don't have to go far, just check out a few places. PLEASE!"

Vinny hesitated. His brother was right. If Spider-man were still alive but hadn't made it to safety yet, time could be of the essence.

"Ok. But you stick to me like glue. I'm going to keep my uniform on to deter any problems." Looking up at the ceiling, he thought deeply, "The trail on the roof was at an angle. That way," and he pointed out Joey's window. "But, it's too much work to check rooftops, too. We'll just do a ground search."

For the first time in 24 hours, Joey looked optimistic.

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Spider-man awoke to the sounds of voices again. But this time, fear filled his thoughts. He could hear, "He was down this way. He's on our turf. Bum with a gun or not, he's history."

'_Oh great'_ he thought as he attempted to get up. He ended up doubled over in pain instead. "Man, how am I going to get out of here?" he whispered to himself. He knew he didn't have the strength to web himself out. He slowly turned and faced the wall, placed his hands in preparation to climb and pulled himself up. Only off the ground a foot, he fell back in a heap. Writhing, he slithered back to his corner near the dumpster. '_The dark will give me some cover, but not much_. _And all that will buy me is a little time_.'

Then he thought of the gun.


	4. chapter four

'I'm going to check the alley we searched first last night, just in case he came back." Vinny explained and the brothers headed just around the building. The cop's search was faster this time, not looking for microscopic evidence, just a full size body.

"Where to next?" Joey asked.

Vinny looked up and tried to figure out which window was Joey's. He left the light on and hung a rag out to make it easy to spot. "There's your window, so he headed that way," pointing across the alley to the other building. "Let's check around the other side."

When they turned the corner of their neighboring building, they found the alley too small for anyone to fit. "Ok, onto the next one."

When they reached the third alley, it was large with lots of places to hide. "C'mon, let's start at the far end and work our way back."

"Where do we look?"

"Everywhere. Inside dumpsters, boxes, trash cans, whatever is big enough to hold someone the size of Spider-man."

"Yeow!" Joey jumped back about 3 feet when he moved aside a large box and a cat jumped up and ran away.

"You ok?"

Taking a deep breath, Joey said, "Yeah, that cat scared the shit outa me."

Vinny stopped and glared at his brother, "Watch your language young man."

"Uh, sorry."

Minutes later, as they emerged from the alley, Vinny muttered, "It's gonna be a long night."

That's when they heard the shot.

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"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" sang one of the gang members. "We won't hurt you, we just want you off our turf."

Another member said to the leader, "Maybe he's gone."

"Well, if you think so, why don't you just waltz right in and check it out for us?" he taunted, who then turned to another member, "Wolfie, you know this alley. The wall at the end is just a plain wooden fence. Why don't you run around the block, come in the other side and climb over. Take a look see. Bring a couple of buddies with you."

The remaining gang members inched into the dark alley on this side, using whatever cover was available. Rat, the leader, turned to the youngsters next to him, "How many did you say you saw?"

"Um, now that I think about it. I didn't actually see any."

"What do you mean, you didn't see any?" Rat growled.

"We's heard a gun and a deep loud voice told us to scram. He sounded really big and mean. And it was definitely a gun we heard."

"I oughta make you go in there first."

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Wolfie had made his way around the block and was sneaking up the alley from the other side. "Bend over," he commanded under his breath to one of the two other gangbangers."

"Whadaya mean, 'bendover'?" he hissed.

"I need to take a look see over the fence. Do you see anything over here I can climb on?"

The teen reluctantly bent over near the fence.

"Hold still, will ya, this ain't easy." Wolfie complained.

"Well it ain't easy being a human step ladder either."

Wolfie placed just his fingertips on the top of the fence then ever so carefully, lifted his head high enough to see over. "HOLY SHIT!" he yelled just as a bullet ripped a hole in the fence a few feet away.

"Ha! You missed," he cried to his attacker as he jumped back.

"No I didn't. I hit exactly where I aimed," came the reply.

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"The shot came from just over there," Vinny said worriedly. "You stay here."

"No way! That could be Spider-man!"

"Joey. This is a bad neighbahood, it's dark, late at night. What makes you think this has anything to do with Spider-man? Now, I'm going to check it out and call in backup. You stay here!" Vinny commanded.

"I know it's him. And that's your gun we heard."

"Oh and since when have you become on expert on telling the caliber of gun by the sound!" He turned and trotted away, glancing over his shoulder once to make sure that Joey didn't follow.

Not to take this hiding in a corner, Joey just knew in his heart, it was Spider-man. He was probably shooting in the air asking for help, just the way cowboys did it back in the old west when they needed help. Disobeying his brother, the boy slunk along the buildings staying deep in the shadows. He would stay just within earshot of his brother.

Vinny walked slowly, hand on his unbuckled but still holstered gun. The shot came from this vicinity. He peered into each shadowed doorway, slipped around each uninviting alley, and generally was on full alert. He froze in his steps when he saw three people run from an alleyway half a block up. Taking to the streets, using the parked cars as cover, he scurried up to the opening. He could make out several people in there, talking softly, hiding from something. That's when he heard it.

Joey was mimicking his brother's footsteps several yards behind him and also took to taking cover behind the cars, but on the far side of the street. He also heard it.

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Spider-man was on full alert, his spider-sense screaming off the hook. Even though he didn't see anyone he felt that there were at least four men at the opening of the alley. But it was the noise coming from the other side of the fence a few feet away that worried him more. There were at least two on the other side, which he suspected were trying to ambush him.

He looked down at the gun. He really didn't want to use it. He hated them. But in his condition his options were limited. Whoever came over the fence could easily be knocked out with a webball, but that's a silent weapon. The noise of gunfire might just draw enough attention that the gang would chose to leave instead of go after just one trespasser.

The decision was forced upon him when a head peeked over the top of the fence. Spider-man aimed the weapon to go through the fence at least two feet away. The splintering of the wood added to the dramatics. He had just hoped that the bullet didn't ricochet on the other side, hurting someone.

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Wolfie and his two cronies took cover away from the flimsy fence. He called out as loud as he could, "Rat! Hey Rat! You'll never guess what we caught in our little trap. We's caught ourselves a SPIDER!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" the leader growled back.

"Our bum with a gun is Spider-man. And he doesn't look very good. He's sprawled behind the dumpster. But look out, he got a gun."

"He, he. Well, whadaya know. We done caught ourselves a spider." Rat said to his fellow thugs. Then yelling back into the alley, "Hey Spider-man! What's wrong, get sprayed with Raid?"

In response to the silence, the leader continued, "We know you're in there wall-crawler. And if you think we're gonna run, forget it. You're worth millions dead."

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When the goon spoke about being missed, Spidey hoped that it meant he didn't get a good look at him. But his hopes were dashed when the guy yelled over to someone named 'Rat' that he was their victim. '_I don't believe this. I have taken on super-villains, and come away almost unscathed. But a 10 yr old kid and a gang of thugs do me in_.' He looked up and judged the distance to a fire escape platform. He webbed it and attempted the swing up, only to collapse in pain. Clutching his side, he thought, '_That's not going to work. I wonder if a have a better chance against those idiots on the other side of the fence. I'm sure there's not as many of them. And I could probably get away with just webbing them. But, can I even make it over the fence?_'

When he heard the bad Raid joke, Spider-man responded only to himself, "I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the wisecracks." He took a deep breath, and looked at the gun once again. '_I know definitely it was fired twice. Once at me, once at the fence. But was that all? So I could have as many as four shots left, or as little as none. Looking at the gun from the front will solve that problem, Spidey._' Under the mask he laughed, '_Yeah, go ahead and point the gun at your face. With your luck, you'll blow your head off too._'

Spider-man reviewed his dire situation. His insides were aflame from the injury. He didn't have the strength to climb out of the alley or web out. He wasn't even sure he could walk. There were at least four, if not more, goons waiting for him at the mouth of the alley, and at least two on the other side of the fence. He wasn't in any condition for a frontal assault on the gang, and he wasn't sure if he could climb the fence with the necessary speed and agility to catch those on the other side off guard. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he could climb that fence at all. Gritting his teeth to the pain, all he could think of was sitting here and waiting. They weren't going to attack as long as he had a loaded gun. But the next big question was how long could he remain conscious?

'_Where was the cavalry when you needed them?_'

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Vinny couldn't believe his ears. Joey was right, it was Spider-man in there. He was concentrating on his next course of action when he was tapped on the shoulder. Jumping about a foot up, but biting his lip to keep from screaming, he spun around only to come face to face with his younger brother. Heart pounding a native dance in his chest, he whispered through clenched teeth, "I thought I told you to stay PUT!"

"I told you it was Spider-man."

"I don't care. I told you to stay back there out of danger!" Looking around he realized that it would probably be more perilous for him to move back to safety than to remain where he was now. "Listen, you had better obey every command I give you until we're out of this mess. UNDERSTAND?"

Joey nodded.

Vinny turned his back to the car he was hiding behind and sat down on the road. "Think! C'mon Tarentetta, think. There's got to be a way to save Spidey without getting your own head blown off."

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and placed a call.

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Rat taunted, "We can wait forever, bug. We don't have no place to go. Even when the sun comes up, no one bothers with us." Then turning to two of his buddies, "Go around to the other side of this building and climb to the roof. You should be able to get a couple of shots off at him from up there. Don't worry about hitting him, just draw his fire. We'll take him when he runs out of bullets."

"But suppose he comes up after us? He climbs walls, remember?"

"You moron. If he was in good enough shape to climb the wall, he would have done so a long time ago. But instead he's sitting in there with a pop-gun. Means he's hurt real bad. Now get going!"

Feverish, Spider-man struggled to stand. As he listened to the Rat mock him, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. His reflexes were still sharp and he shot a web ball at the gang member climbing over the fence. He was knocked back to the other side. '_I sure hope he's out cold. That would be one down._'

He eyed the fence and noticed a handy stack of wooden crates along side. Apparently somebody had already set up those makeshift stairs for an easy climb over. He had staggered over to the lowest box when his spider-sense went off. He ducked just as a bullet from above ricocheted off the brick wall. He dove back to the dumpster. Shoving it away from the building he sandwiched himself between the two as another bullet slammed near him. A rat jumped out of the dumpster and landed on his chest. Before he could react, the rodent scampered down the length of his body and disappeared into the depths of the alley. Holding back the repulsion, he coughed out a laugh, "I never thought I end up dying like this, in a slime-coated, rat-infested, roach-laden alley."

Spider-man couldn't believe his ears when police sirens sliced through the air. '_There is a cavalry after all. Keep coming guys, keep coming.' _The sound of departing feet on the other side of the fence was music to his ears, but he didn't hear the same from the mouth of the alley. Not knowing if the sirens would pass him by or were coming to his aid, he juggled whether to make a run for the fence or not. He knew most of the gang members were still between him and the street. He didn't know if anyone was still on the roof. But he was almost sure that they were gone from the other side. He was preparing to leap for the fence, when he heard, "Police! Freeze!"

He let out a breath of relief until he realized that the running feet he heard next were not going farther away but coming closer. The gang members were running from the police in his direction. '_Oh great!_' He was not sure if they were going to try one fleeting attempt to kill him as they went by. Lying on his back, sandwiched between the dumpster and wall, he aimed the gun towards the opening and held his breath. His view of the fence was limited, but he heard several bodies climb over it. He released the lungful of air he was holding and relaxed the death grip he had on the gun, when he heard the last of the gang drop over the fence.

On the verge of passing out, he jumped when the dumpster rolled away from him. Heart exploding in his chest he almost fired the weapon when he saw Vinny peer around the bin.

"Spider-man!"

"Oh, Vinny, am I glad to see you."

"How are you doing?"

"Not so well. Think you can give me a hand?" Spider-man said with a cough.

"Listen, I had a buddy of mine use the siren on his car and do a drive by. But right now, it's just me. There's more cops on there way and I got to get you out of here before they get here. It'll get way too complicated if they find out about this whole mess. I sent Joey home to pick up a few things, then we'll waltz you out of here." Vinny turned towards the street as the sounds of more sirens approached. Then back to the super-hero, "Can you make it over the fence?"

"I can only try."

"C'mon. But gimme my gun first." The young officer took the gun and put it in his ankle holster.

"Damn you're heavy," grunted Vinny as he pulled Spidey from behind the trashbin. Half holding him and half pushing him, the cop got the wounded man to the highest box only inches from the top of the fence. Although he was trying to climb it, Spider-man ended-up crumbling over instead and landed hard on the other side.

"You, ok?"

"Ok just overall, or ok from the fall?" came the wisecrack from an otherwise unmoving body.

Vinny hesitated as he waited for his brother. He was rewarded moments later when Joey came panting up. "Where's Spider-man?

"Over here," came a weak voice.

"Stop chatting and get on the other side, quick. I don't want to have to try to explain this whole ordeal to my boss."

The brothers quickly vaulted the fence and landed beside Spider-man.

Getting the hero into a sitting position, Vinny said, "Sorry Peter," and yanked his mask off before Spider-man knew what happened.

Words couldn't even escape his lips, he just stared at the cop, unbelievingly.

"I already knew, Pete. C'mon, put my sweats on over your outfit. Let's get you some help."

"Just get me back to my place. I'll take it from there." Peter was finally able to say after the shock of being unmasked.

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Vinny and Joey struggled with the half conscious hero up the stairs. They weren't looking up when they ran into a middle-aged African-American man.

"Oh God, Peter. What have you gotten yourself into now?" he asked.

"You know him?" Vinny asked.

"Yes. I'm Doctor Carl Jackson, his personal physician."

"You're Doc Jackson? I'm Vinny Tarantetto"

Opening the door to Pete's apartment, he said, "You're the officer that I spoke to earlier? What do you know of what happened to him?"

Before Vinny could make up an excuse, Joey blurted out, "I shot him. It was an accident."

Seeing the pain in the young boy's eyes, Carl knew immediately that it was an awful accident. "Well, why don't we get him inside and fix him right up? What do you say?"

The boy just nodded.

The doctor looked at the cop with a questioning expression on his face.

"He's my brother." Vinny stated.

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Just as the doctor was finishing tending to his wounds, Peter came to.

"Doc. What are you doing here?"

"I came over as soon as I heard you were missing and hurt. I hoped you'd be here. Peter, I'm going to go broke if I have to dump all my paying patients to tend to you." He said with a smile.

"Where's Joey?"

Carl looked towards the boy, "I think he's probably referring to you."

Joey stepped forward, tears clouding his eyes, "Peter, I'm really …" but before he could get the word 'sorry' out, he started bawling.

"C'mere, Joey." And Spider-man reached for him. "Sit."

Looking straight at him, Peter said, "It was an accident. I shouldn't have startled you like that. It was my fault. You shouldn't have been handling a gun, but I should have known better than to sneak up on someone with a gun. Don't beat yourself up over it. I'm ok. I'll be just fine. I've been hurt a lot worse, believe me. Right Doc?"

"Yes, you have. And we need to talk about that."

"There, ya see Joey, Spider-man's gonna be ok." Vinny added. "And we'll discuss the gun thing later."

The tears had abated when Joey spoke, "I am really sorry Peter. About everything. And I'm also sorry that I told Vinny where you lived. But I thought you were hurt. I had to find you."

"You did fine, Joey. I won't have wanted it any other way. I'm really lucky you guys were looking for me, or I'd be history by now."

"You can thank Joey for that. He insisted that we go out looking for you." Vinny stated.

"Well, I owe you one, young man. You saved my life"

"Uh, uh. We're even, Peter. Remember you saved my life and Vinny's. I think we still owe you one."

Peter smiled, "Nah, we can call it even. So, Vinny, is Peter Parker still invited to the wedding?"

End


End file.
